Cost Analysis on Chicken Nuggets

[callistra]

Notes and assumptions. Once again, I used Groceryzone for my costs. I found that I had a packet of 400 gram Ingham nuggets, and paid the same as a 500gram packet, so I have gone with what was in my freezer. The 500gram packet also have a different ration of chicken breast to the packet I had (52% instead of 48%). But anyway...

I have assumed labour is free (of course!) and the first two tables are self-explanatory. The last table is me working out how much chicken nuggets you would need to buy to get a kilo of chicken meat in the nuggets. The chicken breast used in the home made chicken is organic and free range. I have seen breasts at a much cheaper price, but I can't prove it as none of the catalogues have chicken breast on special right now. :-)

Relevant links:
Grocery Zone
Inghams

Chicken Nuggets	Grams per packet	Cost per packet	Cost per gram	Used	Cost
Ingham Frozen Breast Nuggets	400	6.84	0.0171	400	$    6.84
	Grams per packet	Cost per packet	Cost per gram	Used	Cost
Chicken breast	250	4.95	0.0198	1000	$   19.80
Breadcrumbs	375	1.85	0.004933	375	$    1.85
egg	1	0.6		1	$    0.60
flour	10000	10.15	0.001015	50	$    0.05
					$   22.30
Notes on Nuggets		400	2083.333
Chicken	48%	192	1000
Other	52%	208	1083
		400	2083	5.208333
		$6.84	$35.625

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

I guess your packaging costs are equivalent too? Mind you, a hell of a lot of costs are involved in development, manufacturing and distribution, so I think you've been perfectly reasonable to stick to ingredients.

Sorry, couldn't turn off the work hat there for a sec :-)

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Packaging costs?
In terms of if I chose to freeze them or stick them in the fridge, and thereby put them on a plate with some clingwrap, or using tupperware, plus the energy for use of the fridge/freezer?

Since they're already an ongoing cost to my budget regardless of whether I use them for the chicken nuggets, I couldn't be bothered. :-) Clingwrap is a few cents for 30 centimetres, and I expect if I was using a full kilo of chicken nuggets then I was cooking for a dinner party anyway, and would not actually incur packaging/storage costs.

The company's costs for packaging and development etc are not my problem. I just buy a product. I expect them to factor in such costs, but then I am expected to work as a stay at home mum for free by society too, so it's all a moot point.

(On a side note, I hate this "adding extra charges" to prices. I see credit card charges and etc as part of the running costs of a business, and I don't give a shit if they have to pay more for one type of payment from a customer than another. It's their problem, not the customers, and it should be factored into the price of the item. Not that this has *anything* to do with chicken nuggets LOL)

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more about packaging costs for the flour, eggs, chicken etc, but let's not go there :-)

As for GST I don't know how many times I've told tradies etc that they have a legal requirement to include a total price including GST in their quotes. i.e. they can't just say "$800... plus GST"

[callistra.livejournal.com]

I'm still lost.

When I buy a package of eggs, it works out to about 60 cents an egg. I'm not bothering about environmental factors, so I am still lost as to what you mean.

[discordia13.livejournal.com]

I cant quite make out the numbers on account of the table being deformed. - I think you are saying the cost works out the same?

Something else you can try. Make your own bread crumbs for considerably less (and you get a choice of flavours).

Start with stale bread, toast or microwave it and let it cool to reduce any moisture, and then use a mill or a good food processor. You can (if required) further toast/bake the results if it's not dry enough for what you intend to do.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

All that for the 98 cent bi-lo packet of breadcrumbs I actually buy? Nah, that's an hour of my life I don't need to lose.

Plus I use breadcrumbs so rarely, it's really not worth my bother of doing them myself.

Croutons, however, are much more interesting.

Basically, per gram it's cheaper to make your own, and if you want a kilo of chicken out of the Ingham's nuggets, you need to buy 5.2 packets.

[bugs-jenny.livejournal.com]

I find breadcrumbs aren't really that complex to make. If your bread is stale (and admittedly, that is rare these days as most bread/buns go mouldy rather than stale - which totally sucks as you can't do anything with mouldy bread, but you can make breadcrumbs/croutons/fondue with stale bread...) - that is at the stage where it's actually gone rock hard, just chuck it in a food processor & whizz it until it's crumbs. Dead easy :-)

[callistra.livejournal.com]

I feel I should also point out, I am highly unlikely to make chicken nuggets ever. I can do much more exciting things with chicken!
:-)

[prk.livejournal.com]

If I understand your tables right, you're saying that purchased nuggets are $17.10 per kilo, whilst your nuggets are $15 per kilo (assuming an egg is 60g)?

Additonally, yours are 70% chicken, compared to ~50% from commercial?

prk.

[callistra.livejournal.com]

If I understand your tables right, you're saying that purchased nuggets are $17.10 per kilo, whilst your nuggets are $15 per kilo (assuming an egg is 60g)?

Yes! I should have done that part/I thought I had but then deleted it...
:-)

Additonally, yours are 70% chicken, compared to ~50% from commercial?

Yes.